In a complex deal announced Friday after the Hong Kong stock market closed, Mr. Li’s flagship property company, Cheung Kong, said it would take over Hutchison Whampoa, his holding company for a network of global businesses including ports, utilities and retail stores.

If that first transaction is approved by shareholders, the enlarged group would then be split into two new companies. The first, CK Hutchison, would become the main holding company for all of Mr. Li’s nonproperty assets, which include ports, energy and utility businesses in Britain, Continental Europe and Australia, and a retail chain of thousands of health and beauty shops and supermarkets across Asia.

The second company, Cheung Kong Property, would become the holding company for all of Mr. Li’s real estate assets, which include a huge portfolio of offices, shopping centers and residential developments in Hong Kong and mainland China.

Mr. Li, 86, is one of the world’s richest people, with a net worth of $33.5 billion, according to Forbes. In the past two years, he has been selling assets in Hong Kong and mainland China, and acquiring blue-chip companies like utilities and energy businesses overseas — mainly focusing on Britain, Europe and Australia.

Mr. Li’s companies said the restructuring announced on Friday was aimed at removing the discount that investors have typically applied to their shares because of the tiered shareholding structure of the Li family’s stake. At present, the Li family owns 43 percent of Cheung Kong directly, which in turn owns about 50 percent of Hutchison.

The proposed deal would give the Li family a direct 30.2 percent stake in each of the new companies to be formed, with Mr. Li serving as the chairman of both firms and the elder of his two sons, Victor Li, serving as vice chairman.

Under the terms of the all-shares transaction, Hutchison shareholders would receive 0.684 of a Cheung Kong share for each share that they own.

Shares in Cheung Kong have risen 9.7 percent over the past 12 months, while those in Hutchison have declined 10.7 percent.

The restructuring would enhance the “size and scale” of both the new companies to be created, allow shareholders to invest directly in each of them, and “provide greater transparency and business coherence,” Cheung Kong said in a stock exchange announcement.